1st Time In A Decade, Property Taxes May Be Going Down

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Here’s something you don’t hear every day — some of your taxes may be going down. Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday Minnesota property taxes are going down for the first time in a decade.

A new Revenue Department study shows property taxes have gone up 86 percent in the last decade.

That’s a sign of cities scrambling to pay for police and firefighters and parks during years of budget cuts during the recession.

Gov. Dayton said today that’s over.

Democrats and the Governor this year raised taxes on higher income Minnesotans, and pumped new spending into cities and schools.

They say taxes will go down statewide for the first time. But Republican leaders call it a “stunt.”

“The revenues we raised by increasing the personal income tax on the top 2 percent in order to provide property tax reductions for the 100 percent,” Dayton said.

“The governor’s attempt today obviously was a stunt to try to sell to the public that his new plan and $2.1 billion in taxes is somehow a good thing,” he said. “I think fortunately that Minnesotans are smarter than that.”

Not only are property taxes projected to go down, but the Governor says property tax refunds will also be higher, and so will renter’s credit checks.

And as for how much property taxes could go down?

Cities and counties haven’t yet set their tax levels for next year, so it all depends on what cities do with all the money they’re getting from the state.

But property taxes could go down about 1.5 percent — doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s the first decrease since 2002.